In the good news department, Microsoft this week said it seized domains used by a Chinese hacking group , the latest in a series of actions by the company that have cumulatively resulted in over 10,000 sites being taken down.

“I think what I had assumed is that hosting providers like Google and Microsoft and Yahoo were going to solve this issue, so we weren’t sure there was anything for us to do in the space,” Prince says.

You can replace your Microsoft account password with a code from the Microsoft Authenticator app, the Windows Hello biometric login system (usually facial or fingerprint recognition), a physical security key that you keep with you, or a verification code sent via email or text.

From a wacky folding laptop to the new and improved Surface Duo 2, there's plenty to choose from if you've been holding out for an upgrade .The Surface Laptop Studio starts at $1,600.

Two Octobers ago, Microsoft revealed its long-in-the-works dual-screened device, named the Surface Duo .When the Surface Duo 2 ships it will be running on Android 11 , and like the last time around, some key Microsoft Office apps have been optimized for the split screens.

"I remember it was 2017 and we started talking about what if instead of improving multifactor authentication we change course to just eliminate passwords," says Microsoft chief information security officer Bret Arsenault.

But if you haven’t, today is an especially good day to be on top of it, because Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all pushed security fixes in the past two days for vulnerabilities that hackers are actively exploiting.

Screenshot: David Nield via MicrosoftYou can view hidden files on Windows by opening up a File Explorer window, switching to the View tab on the ribbon bar, and checking the Hidden items box.

Screenshot: Microsoft via David NieldWindows Hello is the name Microsoft gives you password-free access to your computer: It can include facial recognition via a webcam, fingerprint scanning via a sensor, and the use of a short PIN code.

Microsoft-Owned GitHub Takes Down Exchange Server ExploitSecurity researchers warned this week that a full, public proof-of-concept exploit for recently-patched Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities would further roil a hacking frenzy that had already escalated in recent days.

Hafnium has now exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Exchange servers' Outlook Web Access to indiscriminately compromise no fewer than tens of thousands of email servers, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation into the hacking campaign who spoke to WIRED.

This week, Microsoft and security firm FireEye both shared new details about malware strains the Russia-linked group used to get such devastating access to so many targets.

First spotted by security firm Volexity, a nation-state group that Microsoft calls Hafnium has been using multiple zero-day exploits —which attack previously unknown vulnerabilities in software—to break into Exchange Servers, which manage email clients including Outlook.

"If you have a decentralized identifier I can verify, say, where you went to school and I don’t need you to send me all of the information," says Joy Chik, corporate vice president for Microsoft's cloud and enterprise identity division.

In March 2018, Dutch physicist and Microsoft employee Leo Kouwenhoven published headline-grabbing new evidence that he had observed an elusive particle called a Majorana fermion.

The flaw, discovered by researchers at the security firm SentinelOne, showed up in a driver that Windows Defender—renamed Microsoft Defender last year—uses to delete the invasive files and infrastructure that malware can create.

People can use the generator when signing up for a new account or when changing an existing password.“Microsoft Edge offers a built-in strong password generator that you can use when signing up for a new account or when changing an existing password,” members of Microsoft’s Edge team wrote.

Once an attacker has the network privileges to manipulate this authentication scheme, they can generate legitimate tokens to access any of the organization's Microsoft 365 and Azure accounts, no passwords or multifactor authentication required.

User traffic has nearly tripled since the start of the year, to 4 million monthly unique visitors, the most since early 2016, according to Google Analytics.The new team tapped the surge in traffic to conduct user research and test ways to moderate content, including AI tools from Amazon and Microsoft .

Research conducted by Microsoft and Keystone points to the critical role of investment not just in tech but in creating an architecture that can enable anyone to access opportunity across divides and barriers, developing the capabilities required to drive the innovation desperately needed to rebuild.

Console gaming is starting to look more and more like Netflix: Instead of buying a disc at the store and popping it in at home, subscription services from Sony and Microsoft allow you to access tons of games for a monthly price, or even stream them without the need for a long download.

For gaming, video editing, or other power-hungry tasks, aim for an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 processor with 16 gigabytes of RAM and a dedicated graphics card by Nvidia or AMD.Be sure to read our guide to the best laptops , best cheap laptops , best MacBooks , and best Surface PCs for more recommendations.Microsoft Surface Deals.

For example, AMD says that its Security Processor will work alongside Pluton to act as the hardware root of trust for the silicon chips in a system and their firmware, while Pluton can provide the root of trust for Windows.

In late 2017 and early 2018, he stole millions of dollars worth of Microsoft store credit and resold it online for bitcoin, which he then cashed out using Coinbase."The value of the bitcoin deposits to Kvashuk's Coinbase account generally correlated with the value of the purchased and redeemed [Microsoft credit]," the government argued.

You can also make sure that app, movie, music, and other purchases your kids try to make go through you first: After tapping your Apple ID in Settings on iOS or opening System Preferences on macOS, choose Family Sharing then Ask to Buy to set this up.

Now Google is accused of forcing phone companies to install its apps on the Android OS—which it gives away for free.There’s no question that Google dominates search, but in 2020, there isn’t one company that rules technology but a cluster (including Microsoft).

“If people are going to choose to play games, we want to be as efficient as we possibly can in delivering that experience, either via a console or a data center in a streamed environment,” said Microsoft’s vice president of cloud gaming, Kareem Choudhry in a March interview with WIRED.

Windows XP Source Code Leaks OnlineWindows XP's refusal to die has caused a multitude of security problems ; Microsoft stopped officially providing updates to the operating system in 2014, meaning any vulnerabilities largely don't get fixed on the millions of computers that still run it.

The Xbox Series X is $500, which is about what most next-gen consoles start at.There's no Blu-ray disc drive, so you can only play digital games from the Microsoft Store.

The targets include many election-adjacent organizations, according to researchers at Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center, including political campaigns, advocacy groups, think tanks, political parties, and political consultants serving both Republicans and Democrats.